Mitsui & Co., the nation's top oil trader, is expanding its focus beyond raw materials as its incoming CEO contends with an expected 22 percent decline in profit this year.
As much as 80 percent of Mitsui's profit comes from such areas as iron ore, coal, oil and gas trading, which are sliding in value and dragging down the company's earnings.
Tatsuo Yasunaga, who leapfrogged promotion rankings to take the top job April 1, is looking to food, health care and services to reverse that trend at the 139-year-old trading house.